Anchor in the Storm
by xDarkDesiresLightx
Summary: This is for Lamia of the Dark for the HPFCF February Exchange. All she ever wanted was a safe harbor, a place to feel loved. Could the boy with the raven hair and the coffee colored eyes be that for her? Or would she be stuck out in the storm to weather life by herself?


**A/N: This is for Lamia of the Dark for the February Exchange. I hope you like it, as much I liked writing it. I used Severus/Petunia, Romance, Hurt/Comfort, inspired by "Hurricane" by the Blues Traveler (Great song) and nightmares.  
XOXOXOXOXO**

She found out of his passing from her nephew and if she didn't despise him already she did when he told her. She nodded curtly before leaving the boy, no, man now in the living room as she bolted herself into the hall bathroom.  
Locking the door, and spinning to face the mirror she tried to choke back a sob as the news washed over her, however it reared back with a vengeance erupting into the small closet and dragging her under. Her heart beat in a staccato rhythm as she clawed at her pearls and band around her finger. Yanking them both off she threw the remaining pearls on the strand into the washbasin as the ring clinked as it hit porcelain. Her knees felt like lead as they dropped to the floor. _He's gone, he's gone, he's gone_ the words beat out with every pump of her aching heart. She wasn't a fighter; she wasn't Lilly she thought as she gave in to the memories, or rather now the nightmares of a time when everything seemed possible.  
He was everything she detested, a wizard and a complete snob with a gigantic ego the size of America. However that wasn't how it had always been. With that simple reminder of the boy who simultaneously stole and broke her heart she let the memories take her as her body wracked with sobs.  
" _Lily, over here!" She called to her older sister as she watched her run through the invisible platform with trunk in hand and a boy with raven hair in tow.  
She couldn't contain the excitement that buzzed through her body. Not listening to a word her mother said she took off towards the pillar between Platform 9 and 10, anxious to see her sister again.  
"Tuni!" Her sister exclaimed in glee as she ran towards her, forgetting her luggage and the boy completely.  
They met in crash of limbs and giggles as the girls were once again reunited.  
"Tell me all about Hogwarts, what's it like, why do you have an Owl?" She asked firing off questions faster than the speed of light.  
"Slow down Tuni, I missed you." Her sister said holding her at arm's length to get a good look at her. "My how you've grown, look at your hair it's so curly."  
She couldn't help but fidget at her sister's compliments. Before she could ask any more questions her mother and father joined them.  
"Lilly, sweetheart it's so good to see you. You should really write more often dear considering we haven't seen you since September." Her mother urged before giving her sister a kiss on the head.  
"Now that the gangs all back together lets go home and have some lunch shall we? " Her said to all of them collectively, before looking at his daughters empty hands. "Dear where is your luggage? You didn't forget it on the train did you?" He asked concerned.  
She looked over her sister's left shoulder at the boy standing beside two trolleys of luggage.  
"Dad, its right over their" She said pointing excitedly at the boy, causing her sister and parents to look at the nervous fellow.  
"Lilly dear, you didn't tell us you had a beau." Her mother gushed looking between her sister and the young lanky boy standing alone in the middle of the station.  
"He's not, he's just a friend." She said to the disappointment of her mother and the pleasure of her father. _  
_"Come on, I'll introduce you." Lily said before grabbing her hand and leading them all over to the trunks of luggage.  
"Tuni, this is my friend Severs Snape. Severus this is my sister Petunia and my mother and father, Marigold and Harold." She introduced them smiling back and forth between the four of them.  
"Hello." She said excitedly, letting go of her sister's hand to shake his.  
He stared at her a moment, before he gazed at her sister who nodded minutely at him so as for no one to see, yet she did before he grasped her hand and shook it.  
"Nice to meet you, Severus." Her mother and father both said before they inquired if he would like to join them for a spot of lunch.  
The whole time he had never let go of her hand, and as she stared at Lily's new friend she was grateful that Lily wasn't interested in him.  
"Oh what a brilliant idea." Lilly gushed before she smiled over at Severus who beamed back at her, subsequently dropping her hand in the process.  
She brought her hand back to brush a stray curl behind her ear but not before she lightly brush her warmed hand against her cheek.  
So with Lily and her parents leading them out of the station and towards the car she took up the rear with Severus, stealing glances at him whenever he was distracted by something that her sister said.  
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO  
During the summer she grew closer to Severus, as he was always with her and her sister. As the summer grew hotter, and the nights grew longer she would camp out in the backyard with Severus and Lilly who would tell her all of the wonderful things about Hogwarts and the studies they learned. In turn she would tell Severus only secrets that she had previously only told her sister, so there they were in a small cramped makeshift tent building bonds that would connect them forever. The secrets they whispered together in the inky blackness anchored them together around the storm of their young lives.  
During early hours of morning, as Lilly and Sev slept soundly she would write letters to Dumbledore by flashlight begging him to let her into Hogwarts so she wouldn't have to be alone.  
As the bird flew back every afternoon with a simple note attached to its leg her heart grew heavier with every flap of the birds wings.  
Before long the amount of rejections were able to fill up half of her summer drawer, and as she set the latest letter in the drawer a tear dripped out of her eye, and soon they couldn't be contained as she cried looking down at the letters.  
"Tuni have you seen Lilly?" Sev asked as he came into her room.  
Wiping away the stray tears she slammed the draw shut before turning to answer him, however as he took her in he inched tentatively into the room and opened the drawer.  
"What are these?" He asked picking up one of the stacks of letters.  
"He won't let me in." she whispered to him, finding her shoes rather interesting all of a sudden  
"Who won't let you in? Where?" He questioned before he read the address on the topmost letter.  
"Why are you writing Dumbledore?" He asked, curiosity piqued, all intentions of finding Lily fading.  
"I don't want to be left alone. I want to go with you- and Lilly of course" She added on as she drew her gaze up to his dark coffee-colored eyes. The emotions of not being good enough swept over her again as she thought of the words on this morning's rejection letter. As soon as the tears started again, she was wrapped up in the warmth of Severus, and his minty scent.  
"Don't be sad Tuni, Lilly doesn't love you any less because you can't do magic." He tried to make her feel better and she couldn't help the slight laugh that erupted at his words, because it wasn't really about Lilly at all.  
"What's so funny" he asked, looking down at her, his cute crooked nose barely touching her own.  
She was paralyzed; this boy in front of her was so close, and so darn beautiful in a mysterious sort of way. She couldn't understand how her sister didn't love him. Before she could think more on it she kissed him, on the lips tasting the slight minty flavor of the tea he must have drank. The fire that consumed her as his scent wrapped its way around her whole body she felt safe, like a boat finally finding shelter in the middle of a storm.  
"No! Tuni, we can't do this. I'm your friend" He said pulling his lips away from her and disentangling her hands from his locks, and just like that the boat was swept out into the middle of the hurricane, crashing against the rocks.  
She ran, she didn't have any other thought but run, run from the feelings and the emotions that threatened to consume her as his words battled for purchase.  
Running straight into her sister she disregarded her sister's concerned look and words of help, only seeing Sev in her mind's eye tell her he didn't want her. "I hate you. I wish you weren't my sister. Get away from me you FREAK!" She screamed before fleeing out into the yard.  
XOXOXXOXOX  
That night she burnt the three stacks of letters in the fire place watching as her hopes and dreams fell into a mound of ashes. As the fire died she promised herself that she would never fall in love again, after all one can't love if their heart is already taken by another.  
_ "Aunt Petunia, are you alright?" Her nephew called through the closed door before knocking out a pattern of three. _  
_She rose from the ground, wiped away the wet salty tracks before turning on the tap to wash her face of any remnants of her meltdown. Gazing into the mirror one final time she let the mask fall into place as she put the boy and that summer behind her once again.  
 **XOXOXOXOXOXO**

 **Please review.**


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